L - He who calls himself Bristol didn't know how to pronounce this sound until he was a Junior in high school; and bets you don't know, what he learned recently, that there are two l sounds in English, one being he so-bekannt "dark l" that follows a vowel, and the other the initial l which Arch Oboler uses after a vowel when he wants to get a spine-chilling "Kihl! Kihl! Kihl!"
LA - Los Angeles, dummkopf.
Sears Langell - Pename for oldtime fan Allen Glasser. When Langley Searles began to appear in fanzines, many folk thot Glasser was coming back.
LASFL - Los Angeles branch of the Science Fiction League, later the LASFS.
LASFS - The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society. The LASFL had also held Overseas Chapter #1 of the SFA, and when they also became a chapter of the Science Fictioneers, and seemed likely to affiliate with other general fan organizations, they voted to take this neutral and, says Yerke, meaningless name.
The most famous members of the LASFS are Ackerman and Morojo, but there have been many other active fans associated with it, including Bradbury, Daugherty, Joquel, Freehafer, the founders of the HFL, the Moonrakers and Yerke, numerous immigrants from the MFS and the Golden Gate Futurians and elsewhere in the war years, and some honorary members and persons who only temporarily lived in LA. The LASFS is the longest-lived local in fandom, most consistently active. In 1940 they claimed the name of Shangri-LA, and became Rome whither all roads led in the months after Pearl Harbor. They have probably had the largest attendance records of any local at some meetings, including numerous celebrities. For a long time they met in the Little Brown Room of Clifton's Cafeteria, but during the war moved their stuff into first one and then another official club room finally finding a swell place in an ex-beauty parlor where members drop in Sundays, days off, and evenings to do the things that a clubroom is designed for.
Between Mirta Forato on the one hand and the Moonrakers or others on the opposite, there have at times been sustained differences. For the most part, these have been kept out of the general fan press and subordinated to club spirit. One emerged for a second in 1938, in the Michelistic period, when a board of censorship was established to keep too controversial material out of Imagination!, the official publication. Another flare-up occurred when Heinlein resigned just before going into the Navy, giving as his reason the attacks on him by Yerke. Toward the end of 1943 a rash of resignations broke out, but that story belongs in 1944. Suffice to say that the reasons appear to have been: Dislike of Ackerman personally; Ackerman's objections to the intrusion of drinking, wenching, ktp, on LASFS affairs; belief that the Society was becoming a collection of psychologically maladjusted people; and discontent with the accomplishments of the LASFS as compared to its possibilities.
laureate - Recognition of excellence in some field. The fanzine Fan Editor & Publisher gave some awards, and Walt Daugherty presented medals at the Denvention based on his own choices, but honors coming from only one or two persons without any official backing are of questionable importance. The FAPA Constitution impliedly provides for annual laureates, the details left up to the vice-president, chmn of the Laureate Committee ex officio. Formerly five laureates were awarded, for publishing (mechanical excellence or innovation), editing (choice of material or mutant type fanzine), writing (fiction and non-fiction), poetry, and art work based on material in the year's mailings. In some of these fields there has at time been little competition; and due to predominance of the individ fanzine, editing and publishing laureates were combined. Silk-screened certificates were awarded the laureate and runner-up in each division, the frazing being on the order of "This certifies that Joe Fann has been awarded the title of Author Laureate Runner-up", signed by the v-p. "Laureate" here is an adjective following the noun "Author" which it modifies. The Laureate Committee consists of three or five members, usually including the official critics.
leaflet - A one-shot publication little more varied than a circular, often a single sheet folded in the middle. (In case you're wondering, folks, your Noah Webster is justrying to prescribe a little order into fanish terminology.)
league - A loose organization of individuals interested in the same thing, who may speak thru a central agency, but give it little active power. Leagues of fans include the SFL, ILFS, FFL, Cosmian League, and HFL.
Leeds SFL - A chapter of the SFL in Leeds England, which seems to have held apart from the SFA. Publishing house was the Green Jester. Its outstanding member was Michael J Rosenblum.
legal matters - Fans in their separate universe ordinarily have little to do with the processes of the civil law, tho they generally accept its judgments of what's right and wrong in the relations of literary men (adding a few requirements of their own regarding exclusive rights to fanzine names, ktp). Speer, who aims at a career in the infamous profession, has made amateur expositions of such subjects as the common-law copyright.
Only actual lawsuit connected with fandom was Wollheim's suit against Wonder Stories, in which he represented several other new authors whom Wonder had failed to pay. They won the case, and the ISA-SFL war resulted. In connection with their long-standing feud, Wollheim and Sykora have at various times threatened legal action against one another, but it has never materialized. Sykora did put the postal authorities on the Futurians' trail in connection with the Christmas Card incident, hoping they'd uncover some subversive activities too.
Tho Hornig performed a quasi-judicial function in connection with a dispute over the SFL rule on correspondence, the vice-president of the FAPA is the first legal authority set up by a fan organization. More or less legalistic debates have been waged between members of the FAPA over strict observance of the Constitution vs ignoring it where it become inconvenient.
Leo - Pet name for the Scientifictionale-odensian, which was the name of a fanzine and means a stfist who lives in Leeds England.
Levy - Pet name for Le Vombiteur, Lowndes sheet.
LeZ - Pet name for fanzine Le Zombie. Efforts have been made to call it Lizzie, with little success.
liberal - A person willing to see the other guy's viewpoint and let him do as he wishes on non-vital questions, and willing to experiment to find the solution to sociological problems. Futurians have at times been infuriated by the apparent inability of people like Rothman and Speer to make up their minds on a thing and consider it a closed subject; and Ackerman came in for sharp criticism when, on grounds of tolerance, he blocked moves to end the Cosmic Circle's use of LASFS facilities.
linoblock - A means of reproduction something like woodcuts, except that you cut it out of a slab of linoleum, which is easier to cut, glued to a block of wood. The method is used chiefly for illustrations, which may be reproduced in white line on a black (or other colored) background, by cutting away only the lines, or a dark lines on a white background, by cutting away all except the lines (and other dark areas).
Literature, Science, and Hobbies Club - A group in Decker Indiana, made up of some Mannings, Maurice Paul, and others. They had a club shack, published the pioneer multi-color mimeoed fanzine, Pluto.
lithoing - Originally, reproduction by stone which absorbed water, and therefore would not take ink, except where it has been marked with a greasy pencil. Metal sheets are now used, which permits reproduction in accurate detail and with large solid areas; fotos can be reproduced in half-tone. The process came into considerable use in fandom with the establishment of Assorted Services, tho publishers presently found commercials who could do the job for them cheaper than Ackerman cud. Costs plenty anyway.
Little Jarnevon - (Smith:Suddsy) - 310 W 18th St, Manhattan NY. A science fiction house inhabited in mid-1943 by Suddsy Schwartz and Larry Shaw, and such visitors as they couldn't get rid of.
locals - Fans living in the same city or metropolitan area usually from some kind of organization at whose regular meetings they may get together, tho in some cases, like the Washington Worry-Warts and the Windy City Wampires, there is no formal setup. These locals may be independent, but more often have a titular link with one or more regional or general fan organizations, the main advantage of which is publicity of the fact that they exist so that other interested people nearby may join. In many cases a local will be a branch of several general organizations; the LASFS and the PSFS are the outstanding examples.
Occasionally strong and active locals are found in comparatively small communities, like the Literature Science and Hobbies Club of Decker Indiana, but the longer-lived ones are usually in metropolitan areas. Leeds, New York, and for a brief time Chicago and LA, are the only cities that have supported more than one local at a time. Even in the large cities, such as Chicago and Washington, there have been periods when there was no active fandom, and in smaller places periods of nothingness have been oftener because of the weakness of all locals that they may fold up with the loss of one or two very active fans.
In spite of this, they are the strongest type of fan organization because they present an opportunity for fangabbing, cooperative publishing, visiting, and similar fan activity, which in a larger organization, where contacts are mainly by mail, can be had only at fan gatherings.
LuGerKus - The publishing house of Louis and Gertrude (Trudy to you) Kuslan after Cosmic Publications passed out of currency.
Data entry by Mal Barker